CERTICOM LAUNCHES PARTNER NETWORK WITH SIX SECURITY VARS AND SIS

Program Extends Global Reach of Certicom and Delivers Key Element of Growth Strategy 

Mississauga, Ontario – (November 13, 2002) – Certicom Corporation (TSX: CIC), a leading provider of wireless security solutions, today announced the Certicom Partner Network, a new global partner program that simplifies the delivery of complete security solutions to enterprises, governments and other markets. This launch delivers upon a key element of Certicom’s long-term growth strategy by extending the company’s sales reach internationally.

The Certicom Partner Network enables security-focused Value Added Resellers (VARs), System Integrators (SIs), and large carriers with security divisions to round out their product portfolio with award-winning handheld security solutions. Six new VARs and SIs based in North America, the United Kingdom and Korea have signed up as part of the launch including Boxing Orange Ltd., Ameriss Corp., Onix Networking Corp., Comark Inc., ReefEdge Inc., and Seoul Information Systems Inc. (which also does business as Infonia). 

“Wireless security is an area of high growth for us and a key differentiator,” said Andrew Mason, Managing Director of Boxing Orange. “Certicom’s movian products round out our solution offerings and provide our customers with an industry leading wireless security solution. The addition of Certicom to our portfolio helps us to grow our top line revenue by providing us with new solutions for existing customers and access to new customers and markets.” 

The Certicom Partner Network has two levels of partnership: Advantage and Alliance. Advantage partners make a stronger revenue commitment to Certicom and enjoy enhanced partner benefits such as increased discounts and free training. All partners are fully qualified to sell and support Certicom products and have access to an extensive array of sales, marketing and technical support benefits. Sales and marketing benefits include lead referral, sales training programs, co-op marketing funds and a restricted access partner site with online ordering capabilities. In addition, Certicom offers a technical training and certification program, second level support, participation in beta programs and post-sales technical support tools. 

“The Certicom Partner Network offers a high level of support for partners so that we can offer informed security counsel to our customers,” said Joe Bucci, Director of Client Services for Onix Networking. “Certicom’s leading wireless security solution also enables us to provide customers with the most comprehensive wireless security solution on the market. In particular Certicom’s GSE products are attracting an increasing amount of attention from our government customers.”

The first products to be made available through the Certicom Partner Network are movianVPN™ and movianCrypt™. movianVPN from Certicom brings together the convenience of wireless communications with the security demanded by organizations looking to extend critical enterprise applications such as e-mail and other tools to mobile professionals. This software client provides security from wireless handheld devices to the corporate intranet using the existing VPN infrastructure.

movianCrypt addresses handheld security concerns by extending the basic security provided by your device. It locks and encrypts all of the data on the device to achieve strong security without impeding performance and usability.
“The Certicom Partner Network is a key element of our long term growth strategy to reach enterprise, government and other end user markets,” said Ian McKinnon President and CEO of Certicom. “The six partners that we have signed on are representative of our intention to bring on a limited number of high quality global partners. As we add to that list we will continue to evolve and improve our partner offerings.”

About Certicom
Certicom is a leading provider of wireless security solutions, enabling developers, governments and enterprises to add strong security to their devices, networks and applications. Designed for constrained devices, Certicom’s patented technologies are unsurpassed in delivering the strongest cryptography with the smallest impact on performance and usability. Certicom products are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including Texas Instruments, Palm, Research In Motion, Cisco Systems, Oracle and Motorola. Founded in 1985, Certicom is headquartered in Mississauga, ON, Canada, with offices in Ottawa, ON; Herndon, VA; San Mateo, CA; and London, England. Visit www.certicom.com.


For further information, please contact: 

Brendan Ziolo André Fuochi
Certicom Corp. Maverick Public Relations
(613) 254-9267 (416) 640-5519
bziolo@certicom.com andref@maverickpr.com